Morris Claiborne Was A Pick 6 In NFL Draft, But A Score 4 On Wonderlic Test. Why This Should Bother You

Fri, 04/27/2012 - 19:19 EDT - Forbes.com - Top Stories

Raise your hand if you've heard of the provocatively named Wonderlic Test? Thought so. I hadn't heard of it either. Turns out, it's used by every NFL team to determine not strength, not speed, not toughness - all standard measures of football prowess - but smarts.

LSU Tiger, now Dallas Cowboy, cornerback Morris Claiborne (no relation to Liz) made headlines yesterday not only because he was picked a prestigious 6th in the NFL Draft, but because he reportedly scored a 4 (out of a possible 50) on the Wonderlic Test. This may not matter to you, especially if you don't care about sports. But it should.

This is because Mr. Claiborne's woeful score suggests that he spent three years playing football at the finest public university that Louisiana has to offer and came out functionally illiterate. The Wonderlic defines a score of 10 as literate, and a score of 20 as possessing average intelligence. The average NFL player's Wonderlic score is around 20, though 2012 Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning scored a 39. Claiborne wasn't even close.

Lost in the monotony of the 43-8 Seahawks win in the Super Bowl is the remarkable story of Malcolm Smith. Smith was named Super Bowl MVP after his interception return for a touchdown broke the game open in the second quarter.

When the Rams drafted Georgia running back Todd Gurley with the 10th overall pick in last year's NFL Draft, it set off a familiar wave of reactions around the league, namely that a team should never use a top-10 pick on a running back, especially one who was still recovering from a knee injury that ended his college career.

Leonard Fournette is the most electrifying player in college football right now, and it's not even close. Two weeks ago against Auburn, LSU's sophomore running back ran for 228 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 19 carries — the most by a Tiger rusher in under 20 carries and the fifth most in program history.

With the NFL Draft less than four weeks away, a new player is making a run as the potential No. 1 pick.
In recent weeks, 21-year-old defensive back Jalen Ramsey has been sneaking up NFL draft boards and making a case as the top pick.